Chapter 7

When his alarm went off in the morning, they were both still sound asleep. Somehow overnight, they had ended up snuggling up together without really waking up. William watched Lizzy wake up slowly. It took all his self control to not kiss her.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." William whispered in her ear. "Time to get up. You've got a busy day ahead."

"Just another half hour." mumbled Lizzy.

"Nope. Gotta get this party started." William replied as he pulled the covers off Lizzy.

"Rise and shine to my favorite college graduate! I'll make coffee while you hit the shower." William said as he headed off to the kitchen. He heard the shower come on as he was making toast and beans for them. He heard the front door open and froze in the kitchen. He assumed this must be Lizzy's roommate. Lizzy was still in the shower and he didn't want to scare the poor girl if she came around the corner and found a strange, half dressed man in her kitchen.

"Good morning!" he rang out cheerfully. "Would you like some coffee?" He came around the corner to the living room with two mugs of coffee in his hands to find Mary Church standing totally still next to the front door.

He set the mugs down on the coffee table and extended his hand to her. "William. William Darcet, pleased to meet you. Lizzy told me a lot about you. I'm here for her graduation. We went to high school together in the states but I live in England now. Hope you don't mind, I spent the night. Lizzy is in the shower." He felt himself rambling.

"William? Mr. Darcy? That William?" the startled roommate replied.

"Um, yeah, that's me." he chuckled.

"I would have recognized you anyway. Lizzy has lots of pictures of you around here. More than pictures of her family even. She told me a lot about you too! So nice to finally meet you."

He glanced around the flat and saw framed photos of him and of him and Lizzy that he hadn't noticed last evening. There had to be at least a dozen of them. Many of them must have been taken by Jane or Chuck during that year in the states that they all hung around together. But there were also pictures of him from times when he and Lizzy weren't together. Curious. He wondered how she got a hold of those pictures and why she had them all over her flat. Seeing where the pictures were taken, he realized that she must have gotten them from Chuck. There was a picture from a guys camping trip they made to the Hamptons during his senior year stateside and a picture of him and Chuck at the Bag 'O Nails pub in London when he came to visit during college break. He knew Jane and Chuck had moved in together a few months ago, so he shouldn't have been too surprised. But he was pleased.

Just at that moment, Lizzy walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a large pink fluffy towel. "Just let me dry my hair William, then I'll get dressed." Lizzy said as she turned the corner into the living room.

"Oh. Hi Mary. I, um. I see you met William," she said as she turned ten shades of red.

"Yeah, we met. He made coffee. Good coffee, unlike that stuff you make. We're just having a chat. Go get dressed. We have to leave in a half hour for the ceremony. We'll keep ourselves busy. Go. Go." she said as she shooed Lizzy out of the living room.

"I was just making beans on toast for Lizzy. Would you like some?"

"Sure, thanks. Haute cuisine at it's finest. Hey, us poor college kids gotta live on something. At least it's not that nasty ramen crap that Lizzy lives on," Mary said as they walked into the kitchen. "Hey, the washing up's done. You're a good influence on her already."

She paused and studied him closely. "I wondered if you would show up some day. She never thought you would, but I could tell she thought about you from time to time. She was convinced that she would return to the states, get a job, marry a nice respectable guy, settle down with their 2.5 kids and a house with a white picket fence a mile from her parent's house. But I knew that wasn't what she really wanted."

Mary paused to take a sip of her coffee. "She talked about when the two of you discussed traveling the world and wandering through every museum in England. She wanted to see Derbyshire, but she never was brave enough to buy the train ticket. She went to London a few times, but it's such a big city I don't think she was seriously looking for you." She put down her coffee. "I gotta get ready. Thanks for breakfast."

As William was doing the washing up, Lizzy came out of her room in her new dress, her hair tamed and a touch of make up on. She had her graduation cap on her head and her gown over her arm.

"You look lovely." William said to her as he kissed her on the cheek. "I made beans on toast. Sit down, let me get you a plate."

"Thanks." she said as she sipped the coffee he set down before her. "Hey, this is good coffee. You have just officially been promoted to the position of chief barista. Keep up the good work." she said as she tucked into her beans on toast. When she had finished, he took her plate to finish the washing up, then he went to get dressed for the ceremony.

"We should get going. I didn't rent a car when I got to Oxford. It looks like a beautiful day for a walk. I haven't been here since I came my freshman year to watch a football match. That's soccer to you Americans."

"Oh, Mary's parents are picking us up. I'm sure they can give you a ride." she turned to face Mary's room. "Are you ready to go Mary?" Just then Mary came out of her room dressed for the ceremony.

"Yeah, my parents should be downstairs. Let's go." They headed down to the car park. Mary's parents were nice people from Brampton, Derbyshire. It turned out that they had a few mutual acquaintances. They invited Lizzy and William to the party they were having at a local pub after the ceremony.

As most of these ceremonies go, it was mostly boring, except when Lizzy crossed the stage and William gave out a shout. Not loud enough to be gauche, but loud enough for everyone to know that Lizzy had a champion in the audience. Lizzy waved back at him after receiving her diploma. The luncheon at the pub was fun, but soon Lizzy and William decided they would rather be alone than in a large group. They slowly walked back to her flat with occasional awkward silences, interspersed with light conversation, inane chatter about the world around them.

When they arrived at her door, he was unsure of what to expect. He should say goodbye and tell her he would see her in Connecticut. He still had to book his flight and get home to pack.

"Come in for tea before you go?" she asked.

"Sure. Next train isn't for an hour and I doubt it will be booked up with all the parties still going on. Or, I could stay and help you pack up your stuff."

"Nah, most of it is staying. Mary's keeping the flat and getting a new flatmate while she continues on with graduate studies. My flight leaves the day after tomorrow from Heathrow so I'm only taking my clothes. I'm shipping a box home and only taking what the airlines will allow. But. Um. I wouldn't mind if you stayed a while. When do you need to get back to work?"

"I don't. I'll be telecommuting for the next month, remember?" he said with a smile.

"Oh, yeah, now I remember, Mr. Technology." Lizzy quipped.

"Easy enough in this day. I do need to get home to pack for a month though." He paused. "Come with me. We can get this done in the next couple of hours and be in London for dinner. I would love to have you stay with us until your flight leaves. Maybe I can finagle a ticket for the same flight. Wouldn't that be grand? What's your flight number?"

She told him and he called his personal assistant to try to make the arrangements. By the time they had her stuff packed up and ready to be shipped, he got a call back confirming his flight. His assistant had upgraded her ticket to sit next to him in first class, but he didn't tell her that. He thought it would be a grand surprise when they boarded the plane. She arranged for a company to come pick up the shipping box tomorrow, she left a note for her flatmate and they made the 4 PM train to King's Cross Station in plenty of time.

The trip to London was pleasant. He had insisted on first class seats so the trip was quiet and comfortable. She was surprised when a car picked them up at the station. It seemed the driver worked for William's father and he whisked them away to the family home in style and comfort. When they pulled up in front of their London house, William escorted her to the front door where an honest to goodness butler answered the door! Lizzy was starting to understand the type of money his family came from and it was making her nervous.

Mr. Darcet Senior was everything gracious and welcoming when they where shown into the sitting room. "My dear Miss Bender, it is so good to see you again. When William sent word that you were to join us, Georgie went into spasms of delight. Welcome to our home."

"Thank you Mr. Darcet, I am pleased to be here. When William invited me, I was excited to see where he grew up."

"Oh, this is just our London residence. You ought to see our estate in Derbyshire, Pemberley. That is where William and Georgie grew up, mostly. Too bad you don't have time on this trip. Maybe next visit huh?" Lizzy blushed and William was embarrassed. He knew that Lizzy had not grown up with the luxuries he had been used to. He was cognizant of her unease around people of wealth. She had paid for every penny of her college, excepting scholarships and he was proud of that in her stead.

"Thank you sir. If I ever get to England again, I hope to see Pemberley. I hear it is beautiful."

William quickly changed the subject to more neutral topics. They discussed her major and what she planned to do in the future. She was very glad that William was next to her to steer the conversation. Her regard for him increased with every word from his lips. His dad stated that he knew the CEO of the company she applied to in Kensington and asked if she wanted him to put in a good word for her.

"Thank you for your offer, sir. But, I prefer to obtain a position on my merit alone. If I am not worthy of their attention on my own merit, I would prefer to take my chances elsewhere."

Mr. Darcet, Sr. raised his eyebrows. " Fitzwilliam, I can see what you see in this filly. Good God man, you have your work cut out for yourself." The look that William shot his father could have peeled paint. And amazingly silenced his father. Thank goodness for small miracles.

"Fitzwilliam?" Lizzy turned to William with a scorching look.

"Um, yeah," William demurred. "Fitzwilliam is my legal name. It's an old family name. No one calls me that though. I go by William." The look he shot her said everything he could not say aloud.

"Okay, William. I understand." said Lizzy.

After tea in the parlor, William escorted her to her room. Really, she had a suite to herself. There was a maid in her room, hanging up her clothes.

"This is Suzanne, she'll look after you while you are here. If you need anything, just ask her." He smiled at the young lady and she dipped a quick curtsy. He nodded at the maid who had been assigned to see to Elizabeth. She had been training as a Ladies maid and he had hopes that Elizabeth would like her enough to promote her as her permanent Ladies maid once they were married.

"I certainly don't need a maid to attend me." she stammered.

"Well, if nothing else than to give you directions to the breakfast parlor and to pack your bags, it can be helpful to have an assistant."

"Um, I thank you, sir."

"Pleasant dreams, Elizabeth. I will see you in the morning." This time he did raise her hand and kiss the back of it. It took all of his will power to turn on his heels and go back to his own room.

The rest of her stay was everything she hoped it would be. She spent time with Georgie and got to meet William's favorite hound, Lancelot. They spent the next day looking at old family photo albums and wandering the neighborhood.

Dinner the next night was a subdued affair, again held in the small dining parlor in the family wing of the mansion. Amazingly, several of the dishes were things she had mentioned to William in the past, from her favorite soda (Dr. Pepper Zero[where did he find that in England?]), to her favorite entree (Chicken Kiev), to her favorite dessert (Sticky Toffee Pudding). How in heaven did he remember all this? How did he arrange all this?

As he walked her to her room that evening, he asked when she needed to be up to catch their flight.

"We need to leave at 9 AM to make our 1 PM flight from Heathrow." He noted the look of surprise on her face. "Yes, I was able to book on the same flight as you. What time do you want your maid to attend you?"

"Um, say, seven AM?" Lizzy was not use to having someone at her beck and call. He raised her hand to his lips, kissed her knuckles and forced himself to turn away and retreat to his room. This was getting harder every evening.